1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for holding cards and more particularly pertains to a card holder suitable for the protection and presentation of sports cards, photographs and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
The collection, buying, selling and trading of sports cards has created a need for a means to easily and inexpensively display, protect and store such cards. Consequently, numerous card holders have been designed. For example, a cardcase is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,619 issued to A. Hager on Dec. 25, 1990. The cardcase is comprised of two transparent flat plastic panels. A first panel has molded therein first and second recesses for holding two items. A second panel contains a peripheral lip which engages a notched perimeter of the first panel thereby forming the cardcase. The joint between the panels is preferably bonded by ultrasonic or other means. Outer surfaces of each of the panels further include mating ridges permitting several cardcases to be interlocked with each other thereby facilitating storage and transportation.
The designs of known cardcases have the disadvantage of being too large to file with unprotected cards in standard set storage boxes. Referring to FIG. 6 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,619 issued to Hager, all of those designs are the same in that a first piece 11 with a peripheral lip receives a second piece 12 which has a relief or recess 26 molded into the second piece. The second piece has a peripheral surface 25 extending around the recess. When the cardcase is assembled, the surface 25 contacts the first piece providing additional strength and rigidity. However, the surface 25 increases the overall size of the cardcase thereby preventing the cardcase from being filed with unprotected cards in standard set storage boxes.
Further, many designs such as the Hager design may have ridges 18 and mating ridges 23 or notches on opposing outer surfaces which facilitate joining several cardcases together. However, such projections on outer surfaces will potentially damage unprotected cards if such cardcases are stored with unprotected cards.